Projects To Do List

What better time to talk about sustainability than two weeks before the New Year. Now, I know I'm what must might call bat shit crazy, or an enthusiastic eccentric maybe but I do think that as the higher thinking species of a rather unique planet in the so far known universe that we could all take a little responsibility for how we live, and instead of living in a complete dump, live in a temporary paradise. But again, this is from the perspective of a person who doesn't buy the whole karmic wheel or everlasting eternity bits.

Anyway, my life has been slowly orienting to one where I am looking at making my lifestyle a more sustainable one. Unfortunately, my life is unstable so I apartment hop still. Which I only find unfortunate for me. I like to daydream about owning orchards and having rolling lawns, chickens, goats, perhaps a couple alpaca... Despite the crazy expensive fiber animals, the daydream is potentially doable, so long as I can find land and a way to pay for it.

It has been a long journey and a lot of blog reading to work out the fact that I have truly gone crazy. I horde wine and beer bottles so that I can grind them into sea glass for mosaics, haven't made any yet, just horde the bottles. I've got a small plastic bottle collection reserved for a kayak skin, should I ever find the motivation to do it. There are three giant totes full of old clothes and fabric scraps that I fully intend to do, something, with. Cardboard is piled up in a corner waiting for me to transform it into cat towers and scratching toys, with wine corks sitting in a bowl just waiting to scurry across the floor and hide under couches, the refrigerator, behind the computer. And finally, the giant overflowing pile of kitchen stuff I need to look through and send to Goodwill.

While my horde is exacerbated, (it only takes up corners of the office currently) I need to find my motivation to actually do the stuff I'm planning. However, I always ask myself: “Then what will you do with all this new old stuff?” I could give it as gifts! “Who would want your old trash, literally?” There are plenty of people that pay money for recycled things.... And on and on.

Incredibly lazy, I may be, however, what will I do with all this stuff? When you are trying to go waste less, what do you do with all this upcycled stuff?

The Joy of Blogging

Ah the joys of writing, especially a blog.  I was never very comfortable with keeping a daily journal.  It always felt so, candid, I suppose is a good word.  Well, needless to say, this blog is not going to be a whingey dairy, except on occasion during my introductions, and will focus on topics such as cooking, gardening, fitness and my horrible addiction to cosplay and fanfiction...er writing, yeah fiction writing....

Anyway, this week I will be setting up my schedule to start my cooking and gardening sections.  My fitness is a bit spotty right now since I'm a swimmer and have no pool.  I will be walking for a while.  More to come in this informal setting.  But I will not leave you hanging, I will give you a cookie recipe. This recipe comes from one of my college colleagues, we shall call her Dr. Juju Giggles for our purposes.  These are some of the best holidayesque cookies.  Why holidayesque?  Well, I'm not one for  religious festivals, but I totally understand the family time and thankfulness for having people who actually care about you in your life.  These sugar and spice cookies are perfect for sharing, therefore make a tasty addition for any gathering.  No matter what you believe, we all have tastebuds.

As a warning, these are not conclusive to a healthy diet and are more of an indulgent treat.  If you are suffer from Celiac disease, abstaining from sugar or vegan, this recipe will not be good for you.  These are vegetarian however, so if you are looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth during your transition from omnivore to well pre-herbivore, you can rest assured there is a lack of animal flesh.  Anyway, before we get into that topic of potentially diverse opinions, may I present Dr. Juju Giggles Sugar and Spice Cookies!

Dr. Juju Giggles Sugar and Spice Cookies

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup Crsico

¼ cup molasses

1 egg

2 & ¼ cup flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cloves (or nutmeg if, like me, you hate cloves)

1 tsp ginger

¼ tsp. salt

granulated sugar (for rolling)

Combine brown sugar, Crisco, molasses and egg in any fashion you see fit. I am poor and unmarried so I have no fancy mixer, I use a fork since it is a wonderful multipurpose tool. Stir in flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt until absolutely combined and a rich nut brown color.

Cover your concoction and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. These little beauties sat over night, and turned out ok, but that could also be a reason for the off flavor, (however the Crisco being old is more likely).

When removed from the fridge, pinch and shape into 1-inch balls. Roll generously in granulated sugar. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, or on parchment paper covered cookie sheet if you have it. Bake at 375* until lightly browned.

Now these cookies already are very brown, so a good way to tell of their doneness is to set the timer for 7 minutes (they may need longer) and check for with the tops of the cookies show cracking. At this stage they need to be removed from the oven. I let them cool on the cookie sheet, but if you have the cookie cooling racks, by all means remove the cookies to those after they have set for a minute or two.

A New Leaf Before the New Year

It seems, that I have started a blog for the purpose of randomly ranting to the internet, rather than to practice writing.  This will change!  Starting today, lest the internet return to a place of cats and porn.

There will be more tomorrow, after I actually plan out something to write here and start some kind of theme.

A Story

Syren was a character I created as a fanatical fiction that dove deeply into the Star Wars universe created by George Lucas.  As I was 10 years old at the time of her creation, I had no idea how large the Star Wars fandom had expanded, I only knew that I wanted to make an aquatic Jedi that was somewhat more human looking than Jedi Master Kit Fisto.  While I love Nautolans, at the time my little mind needed a somewhat familiar looking alien.

As I grew up, Syren's species became more decidedly alien.  The Thallassans, as I began to call them went through transitions that looked like classical mermaids, then to more finny classic Tolkien elves, until they achieved a look that looks something like a a Whaley-Boy meets Navi (at least that might be what it looks like in my head).  It wasn't until I started writing on JvS though that the species became very real to me.  I was creating a cultural background through one character, and it was very important to me to record every aspect of the species and not just the personality of Syren.

Eventually, Thallassans was not a term I wanted to associate with the species any longer.  I had developed their language to a point where I had them calling themselves something completely different, even though the meaning in my head might have been the same.  The species is supposed to be so secreted away that no one knows about them anyway, right?

Essentially the species was developed and inundated into the Star Wars universe in such way, that they could become a part of it, but I doubt that will ever happen.  So instead, my Nenya and Calnennore will step into their own stories, mostly because I love them and cannot fathom leaving them to dangle forever in a limbo.  So here, I will be writing short stories about my little corner of the universe I will be creating.  Finally I have a focal point.

All This Hype for Shark Week

Shark week... it started out great, maybe a quarter of a century ago, but where did that greatness go? The goal of shark week is no longer instilling the mind with invigorating information about a formidable predator that deserves some amount of respect and awe. Instead this week evokes: shock, blood, horror, fear...all things that ignorance and a stubborn adherence to prejudice instill. I know why it happened, I just need to figure out how to make it stop without resorting to the tactics of the characters in "God Bless America..."

Any one who has talked to me for longer than five minutes know that I am absolutely crazy about sharks. And it used to be, that I would look forward to every August for a great way to rot my brain in front of the TV for hours, filling it with nothing but what was assumed to be the latest and greatest shark facts.  It was fantastic!  I felt like I learned so much.

But I was an avid watcher of all public broadcast nature documentary while growing up whether cable or local network.  

Perhaps it is the college education now, or the extreme cynicism that comes with age and a pursuit to escape ignorance...but shark week is nothing but fluff now.  It is incredibly disappointing.  Gouts of blood, giant mechanical sharks, limbs of surfers surfing in known shark feeding areas where the sea lions and fur seals are desperately seeking land, constant stock footage of open jaws snapping at cages trying to bite anything.

There really are no words to describe the level of hate that I hold for Discovery Channel.  Their footage doesn't promote conservation! Instead it instills fear, aggression, perpetual ignorance.

Do not misunderstand me: I realize that majority of human interactions with these fish end brutally, tragically.  Respect, awe, understanding should be the goal of Shark Week however.  These fish have been around for millions of years.  They are not any more primitive than any other fish.  Their apparent lack of change over the millenia, is an evolutionary design that works wonderfully for them.  If the shape of their bodies, the abilities of their hunting had been sub-par, they would have gone extinct completely.  Does this fact alone, a species that has gone primarily unchanged throughout the bulk of their evolutionary history, not inspire awe?  Instead it seems to evoke disdain: simple killers, primitive, blood thirsty.  Of course they are bloodthirsty, it is how they recognize food.  If humans had not evolved initially from frugivores, we would be just as bloodthirsty... 

But instead of ranting about the ineffective ability of cable networks to deliver educational television, what is there that can be done to change it?  I know why the transition happened, it is the reason for everything: money.  The blood, the horror, the endless jaws footage brings in an audience.  People don't watch TV (or read for that matter) to learn.  It is pure entertainment.  Which would be fine, if this were actually entertainment instead of entertainment deceptively hidden in the disguise of documentary.

For those of us who want to share information with the world, this showy display of misinformation is disheartening.  Why should anyone support conservation for something they fear?  Why would anyone want to get in the water when such seeming monsters might be lurking?  Why shouldn't we destroy everything that potentially poses a problem to our livelihood?  Discovery Channel no longer answers those questions, as it is sending a mixed message as a get richer scheme. 

All this hype for Shark Week?  You might get more information from Jaws, a movie for pure entertainment value.

Pintrest

Ah, Pintrest.  So much of my time while not on boats or going over data is spent on the DIY portion of  Pintrest.  It is a fantastic way to waste all that time when I should be doing something, but I don't know what or don't feeling like doing much.  It is a place I can go where it feels like I am being productive with my lack of work day.

While it is true that I have always contemplated the idea of living off the grid and being completely self-sufficient, Pintrest helps me to entertain these ideas and to conceptualize how to make them come to fruition.  (fruition seems to be the word of the day amongst my daily blog reading).  But such a lifestyle will have to wait.  During the interim, I will focus on reducing my need for plastic and learn all those niffty tips and tricks for canning, gardening and bread making that the apartment will allow.  Back to the pinboard :)

A Vegan Cookie Experiment.

Finally!  I have a mostly legitimate reason to post on this blog.  As an experimental dive into vegan food and a more sustainable way of life (sort of), I hit upon the crazy idea of using a bunch of baking substitutions I found thanks to Pintrest.

This experiment is probably not all that exciting, but any excuse to make cookies, right?  Now this first batch was not true vegan, I had nestle chips to use up.  Vegan chocolate chips can fit into this recipe just as well as butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips or any other delightful tid bit you so desire.

I think I will call these Extreme Chocolate Fiber Cookies... that sounds less than appetizing.  More experimentation!

A tweak on a very popular cookie recipe:

Makes about 2 dozen regular sized cookies.

• 1 can (about 1.5 cups) of black beans, mashed into dryish paste with liquid removed
• 1 avocado, mashed 
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup raw sugar (or other dry sugar product like stevia, xylitol, cane sugar, table sugar, etc.)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (best to keep it a dry ingredient but use desired substance)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup walnuts (almonds, pecans, macadamia nut or any other nut would be good too)

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.  

If you desire a true method to this wonderful madness, we should reference that method on the little yellow bag of chocolate chips: 

• Cream the avocado, vanilla and sugars together 
• Combine black beans, salt and baking soda together
• Add banana to avocado and sugar mixture
• Mix your drier mixture to your moister mixture
• Fold in chocolate chips and nuts

Now I used a serving spoon to drop my cookie "dough" onto my parchment paper lined baking sheets. Now I don't care about how pretty my cookies turn out, I have never been able to achieve the beautiful discs achieved by co-workers and supermarkets, so I scoop up batter and drop onto the baking sheet. (Thus the lumpy brown goo in the photograph).

Once the oven is preheated, you will want to put the cookies in for some time in between 9-13 minutes.  I had to go with a nice 11 minute window because after 9 minutes the cookies were still a bit too gooey in the center. 

Remove your cookies from the oven when you can insert a tooth pick into the center and have it come out clean.  This will work equally well with a fork or a knife, or a chop stick or a skewer or any other implement used to poke holes into things.

Let your cookies rest on the baking sheet for about a minute, before removing them to a cooling rack.  If you do not have a cooling rack, like me, then remove the cookies from the hot baking sheet to a cool baking sheet or other cooler surface.

This was an extremely moist batter, which was not unexpected, but does make for some very crumbly, soft cookies.  Despite the challenge in order to consume the cookie, they make great sweet snacks.  These cookies are probably not any healthier than normal cookies, but it was an interesting concept to try.

Enjoy :)

Choices are Consequences

Fad diets, if only they were a thing of the past.  Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, no?

Anyway, my reading today has sent me past the impossibility of tasty faux meat products for sustainability purposes and through low carb being potentially dangerous.  These things seem too obvious.

Of course faux meat will not taste like real meat.  If you like real meat, eat real meat.  If sustainability and fat content are the issue, search for sustainable and lean meat.  If you don't care where your meat comes from or what the production and processing does to the environment, so be it, but why belittle those that do care? There is just as much insanity in devout carnivores as there is among the free fall vegans.  We all have to eat, we don't all have to eat the same thing, nor do we need to convince one another that we all should eat the same thing.

Reducing your carbohydrate intake to the single or low double digits for you daily intake just seems ill advised.  Carbs are you fast track energy, you need them to get your body moving.  This does not mean you eat them for every meal necessarily or that you only choose the really fast acting, sugar enriched carbohydrates.  You do need them though!  You creb cycles need the glucose.  So indulge in your breads and pastas and potatoes, they are ok to eat in moderation.

Moderation!  This is the key word for any life endeavor.  Fun, work, food, all in moderation.  Eat good food, have great fun, work hard.  In moderation seems to confuse people.  There seems to be no moderation when I go out.  Everything is so excessive. It must be bigger, better, faster!  Yeah, maybe when it comes to roller coasters.  But I don't need a 24-inch platter full of mashed potatoes with three times the needed butter and salt next to a whole rack of ribs slathered in corn syrup and natural flavor with some kind of phosphate compound to preserve freshness.

You can always do what you want, but you also need to be aware of the consequences that come from your choices.

A New Chapter

Oh grief and a mixture of boredom unit into a splendid fray of cleaning and trying to catch up on reading.  The writing falls to the wayside, the intensity of which was lacking to being with.  With fingers set unto the keys, it is hard to come up with the proper thoughts that will inevitably spill at once onto this blank page.  

So long as the ellipses are kept to a minimum....

This should be an exciting time in one's life.  The winter is completely over.  Any vestige of cool weather remains where it belongs, in the north or far south many kilometers below the equator.  Yet there is a lack of things with which we as people feel compelled to become involved.

There is always working on the tan.  An admirable bronze sheen brought on by the sun but aggravating all the melanin at the surface layer of fatty tissue.  This involves facing the blasted heat of a fresh morning or the boiling temperatures of the sultry afternoon, lest we become eaten alive by the myriad of biting insects at dusk.

Even still, there is that heady scent of flowers in the air.  An intoxicating aroma of grilling meats and vegetables upon charcoal embers across the countryside.  No end to the beautiful greens and vibrant flowers at the road side.  

It is a mixed bag of pleasure and misery, the summer.  It is bright and beautiful yet boiling over with discomfort.  All covered in a fine patina of sweat and grime towards the end of it. For there is always a new project to be started, though not necessarily completed in any short order of time.

But in the end of gathering my thoughts, there is no season that inspires more than this that is the warmest of the year.  So much potential waiting there to become one's muse, should one take the opportunity to seize it!  

Musings

The new year is on!  It has been going for a whole month and I have not been keeping up with this blog at all.  A shame really, because I can use all the writing practice I can get, though I'm sure most of it is as random and non-sensical as most of my thoughts.

So! Onward to daily postage, which I will try to keep up with now, a February resolution if you will...